Our Mission
We are a center for experiential education, rooted in the Gospels, encouraging the transformation of human consciousness through contemplation, and equipping people to be instruments of peaceful change in the world.
Passage and Verse | November 2011
Open Palm Against Lake Ripple
by Santosh Verma, Mumbai, India
Teacher - Spider
by Señor Cactus, MROP 2011, Ebert Ranch, TX
Her symmetry makes it difficult to determine which is the head and which is the abdomen. I imagine it is a defense mechanism to keep her predators baffled and prey bewildered.
Her sleek form aids in daily survival, gracefully darting to and fro hardly noticed, maneuvering through a myriad of obstacles.
The colors she bares of tan, brown and black, mimic the surroundings she crawls on; leaves, twigs and insect corpses. The colors of humus…earth.
I ask, “What lesson does my Teacher have for me today?”
She replies,
The environment in which I travel, was once ATTACHED, GREEN and full of LIFE. Although the color of the leaves may have faded from green to brown, the LIFE within remains, in a different form.
The leaves are now DETACHED, BROWN and void of individuation, and yet, their transformed lives in aggregate are woven into this “carpet of life” and remain a VITAL SOURCE in the “cycle of life.”
The crevices and caverns I traverse are dark and daunting, and yet, are the very source of emptiness in which NEW LIFE is born…
Do you have a poem, essay or photo that captures a particular men's issue or aspect of men's spirituality that is important to you? Submit it for consideration in an upcoming issue of The Drumbeat. Submission guidelines are as follows: Poems may have up to 50 lines. Essays should be between 400 and 700 words in length. Digital photos should be taken in high resolution (high dpi) and measure at least 500 pixels wide by 300 pixels high. Please email your submission to menswork@cacradicalgrace.org with subject: "For Drumbeat: Passage and Verse."
